Avengers: Infinity War smashes global opening weekend box office record

30 April 2018

Stars of Avengers: Infinity War appearing on stage before its premiere — Image caption,
The stars of the film turned up for the Los Angeles premiere

Avengers: Infinity War made history by earning an estimated $630m (£457m) worldwide on its opening weekend.

That's way ahead of the previous first weekend record of $542m set by The Fate of the Furious last year.

And the new Avengers movie, in which Marvel superheroes unite to battle Thanos, hasn't opened in China yet.

It is also likely to take the all-time North American opening weekend record after making an estimated $250m. Star Wars: The Force Awakens took $248m.

Industry tracker Exhibitor Relations made the estimates and official figures will come out later on Monday, but they rarely vary significantly from the estimates.

Scarlett Johansson smiling on the red carpet for fans at the Avengers: Infinity War premiere in Los Angeles

Getty Images

Scarlett Johansson stars in the film as Black Widow...

Robert Downey Jr stands in front of photographers on the red carpet at the Avengers: Infinity War premiere in Los Angeles

Getty Images

...while Robert Downey Jr stars as Iron Man

Infinity War, directed by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, cost between $300m and $400m to make.

Actors including Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman and Chris Pratt, star in the sequel, the first of two parts. The conclusion is set to be released in May 2019.

The films with the all-time top five opening weekends are all sequels and spin-offs.

Source: BoxOfficeMojo.com

Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds congratulated the Avengers on their success by posting a letter supposedly written by Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) to Deadpool, rejecting his request to join the Avengers.

Reynolds wrote: "From a guy who never knows when to quit, I'm glad you guys never did. Congrats #Avengers."

This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Skip twitter post by Ryan Reynolds

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Avengers: Infinity War comes 10 years after the release of Iron Man, which kicked off a series of high-profile superhero films.

The first Avengers came out in 2012. It held the previous record opening for a Marvel film, making $207.4m domestically. Age of Ultron, the second Avengers feature, debuted with $191m.

Follow us on Facebook, external, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, external, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents, external. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk, external.

More on this story